October: Message of the Month

Crime Prevention is Everyone’s Responsibility

Community Strategies for Crime Prevention

The Department of Justice reports that overall crime has fallen in recent years—a 21 percent decrease since 1999. But that does not mean that we can let our guard down. Crime Prevention Month 2004 reflects the fact that time, money, and other resources spent on prevention yield tremendous benefits in reducing crime and making communities stronger, safer, and better places to live, work, and play.

The COPS Office, through its community policing initiatives, training opportunities, and publications, provides law enforcement officers at all levels with the tools and knowledge to help make our communities safe. The COPS Problem Oriented Guides for Police series highlight how many of the most vexing issues can be dealt with effectively by police. They summarize knowledge about how police can reduce the harm caused by a host of specific crime and disorder problems and frequently detail strategies that, if used by the community, can assist police in lessening or solving these problems. Some of these guides are the following:

 Check and Card Fraud

The guide covers fraud involving all types of checks and plastic cards, including debit, charge, credit, and "smart" cards. Each can involve a different payment method. It then identifies strategies citizens, retailers, and other businesses can employ to help prevent or solve these crimes.

Drug Dealing in Privately Owned Apartment Complexes

The Guide makes a clear distinction between open drug market - where dealers sell to all potential customers and closed-drug markets - where dealers sell only to people they know or to those vouched for by other buyers. As all the POP Guides, recommendations are made on how to effectively respond to and partnerships that are particularly beneficial in the tackling of these crimes.

Identity Theft

Identity Theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the country. Victims often suffer the consequences for years and pay a steep price. The guide identifies a series of questions that might assist law enforcement in analyzing their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.

Robbery at ATMs

This Guide addresses the robberies of people using automated teller machines (ATMs) and night cash depositories. This guide reviews factors that increase the risks of ATM robbery and thus provide the citizenry general guidelines for lessening their own personal risk.

Burglary of Single Family Homes

This guide addresses the problem of burglary of single-family houses and includes an entire section on responses to this problem. Items as increasing visibility, motion-activated lighting, and encouraging pedestrian traffic are discussed.

 Theft of and from Cars in Parking Facilities

What can the average citizen do besides locking their car? This guide tells law enforcement how to better protect the lots. These same hints can help citizenry select parking lots and or places that lessen their risk of becoming a victim of this crime.

Three other publications worth noting include:

Using Analysis for Problem-Solving: A Guidebook for Law Enforcement. This guidebook is a resource for conducting conduct problem analysis, and identifies tools for analysis, and proposes tips for using each tool effectively.

Problem-Solving Tips: A Guide to Reducing Crime and Disorder through Problem-solving Partnerships. Serves as a reference for law enforcement practitioners in all stages of implementing the problem-solving approach. Contains insights into every stage of the process, and relies on the SARA model of scanning, analyzing, response, and assessment.

Problem-Solving Case Studies. Specific examples of solving problems effectively.

In addition, the COPS Innovations series discuss some of the most important issues in community policing, including what has been and can be done to deal with specific problems, for example:

Addressing School Related Crime and Disorder. Tips and recommendations for developing successful school-based problem-solving efforts.

Law Enforcement Responds to Terrorism: Lessons in Prevention and Preparedness. Discusses the types of resources that the police may want to consider when developing terrorism-prevention and response plans.

Finally, in another crime-fighting initiative, the COPS Office has supported crime-mapping efforts that help in crime control and prevention through geographic information systems that help law enforcement agencies identify crime hot spots, identify conditions that give rise to crime, and assess the effectiveness of responses to those problems.

Experience has proved that grassroots, collaborative action works to keep crime down. Here are some things every citizen can do to help stop violence and crime in their communities:

1. Work with local police to set up a neighborhood watch or a community patrol.

2. Make sure your streets and homes are well lighted.

3. Make sure that all the youth in the neighborhood have positive ways to spend their spare time.

4. Build a partnership with police that is focused on solving problems. Make it possible to report suspicious activity or crimes without fear of retaliation.

5. Take advantage of safety in numbers to hold rallies, marches, and other group activities to show you're determined to drive out crime and drugs.

6. Clean up the neighborhood! Involve everyone—teens, children, senior citizens.

7. Ask local officials to use new ways to get criminals out of your building or neighborhood.

8. Work with schools to establish drug-free zones.

9. Work with recreation officials to do the same for parks.

10. Develop and share a phone list of local organizations that can provide counseling, job training, guidance, and other services that can help neighbors.

For more information visit The National Crime Prevention Council at www.ncpc.org